"Business as usual" in the women's division
Portoroz, Slovenia: Tomasz Kaplan (POL) just creamed the 2010 European Straight Pool Champion David Alcaide (ESP) with 125:58.
The match was always in Kaplan's hands. From the very beginning, the Polish demonstrated his strong will to make it to the final of this year's straight pool competition. He took a quick 50:0 lead over Alcaide who seemed to not get going in this match. Several mistakes determined both player's performances. At 123:56, when everything seemed to be smooth sailing for Kaplan, he chose to play an "air shot" without having any contact from his hands to the slate. He did have other options but he somehow felt comfortable with this shot. He missed it and opened the door for Alcaide to start a comeback. But it was not Alcaide's match. The Spaniard missed his third shot after he's been to the table, an easy ball in the side pocket. Kaplan accepted the gift and won the match with 125:58.
In the other men's semi-final, Nick van den Berg (NED) outscored Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) with 125:47. The match was a much tougher fight than the other semi-final. Van den Berg and Ekonomopoulos both preferred the tactical play which lead the tournament direction to assign a shot-clock to that match. At that time, the score had already been 81:17 in favor of van den Berg. He got a deduction of 15 points and a new opening break because he committed three consecutive fouls for tactical reasons. Ekonomopoulos tried to benefit from that but only got to 47 points before he had to allow van den Berg He got a deduction of 15 points and a new opening break because he committed three consecutive fouls for tactical reasons. Ekonomopoulos tried to benefit from that but only got to 47 points before he had to allow van den Berg to the table again. The Dutch "El Nino" did not need more than that. He made 39 balls and entered the final of the straight pool competition to play it out with Kaplan.
In the women's division, the semi-final matches were much clearer affairs. Top star and favored player Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) only needed 50 minutes to eliminate Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) with 75:13. Almost as quick, Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) defeated her teammate Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) with 75:16. Wesolowska will meet Ouschan for the title.
The final matches will be begin at 20:45 CET.
